In game bullying and harassment with Trail Accounts and Friend Requests

[JimmyJohns]

Hi Dev Team

For the past three to four years, i have been consistently harassed by a character named Showmo on the Odin server. Showmo has created hundreds of trail accounts with the sole purpose of positioning hacking to the exact spot i'm standing to directly harass me by following me through zones, emoting me, shouting next to me, and now he has begun a campaign of sending hundreds of friend requests daily. I'm sure by now my inbox has at least 15,000 friend requests from various trail accounts. Through the years GM's and i have become good friends dealing with Showmo's army of trail accounts. I should mention Showmo has left the Odin server and is now somewhere else so i don't see a problem with disclosing his name since it's probably changed. Of course, Showmo will always proclaim his innocence and play the victim card because most serial bully's always do.

I will be inserting images of his tactics daily to document Showmo's irrational and destructive behavior. Obviously, after three to four years Showmo's commitment to relentlessly abuse only demonstrates his resolve to not only harass me and other players but also his inability to cope with his own inner demons.

The only logical solution i believe can come of this is to stop all trail characters from leaving the original home nation regions for example areas beyond the reach of the closest crag like Valkrum Dunes or Buburimu. In addition, block trail accounts from sending friend requests and any other avenue of communication.

[Economizer]

The only logical solution i believe can come of this is to stop all trail characters from leaving the original home nation regions for example areas beyond the reach of the closest crag like Valkrum Dunes or Buburimu.

I don't see how this is logical at all. Trial accounts are already limited out of expansion areas, and incredibly limited (30 cap, 100k gil, no trading, bazaaring, AH functions, can't sent party invites, can't sent tells unless someone sends one first, can't even be given a linkshell) beyond that. What's the point of a trial account if you can't even play?


In addition, block trail accounts from sending friend requests and any other avenue of communication.

Any other avenue of communication is a step too far (they're already incredibly limited), but blocking trial accounts from adding players to their /flist would probably be in line with the current restrictions. After that perhaps an optional chat filter on trial accounts and/or accounts less then X days old (to prevent the paid RMT spam) for players who don't want to deal with them may work.

Of course, why not just ask SE to consider an IP ban on the player who is harassing you?

[Sarick]

I don't see how this is logical at all. Trial accounts are already limited out of expansion areas, and incredibly limited ~

Of course, why not just ask SE to consider an IP ban on the player who is harassing you?

None of your information is accurate if the person abusing the trial account is exploiting client based locks or using a dynamically shifted or proxy IP. Not spoofed. Even then if they do a global ban it'd likely interfere with a broad range of players amplifying the hackers effect. At least the GMs are taking direct action. Unfortunately, this also shows that hackers can harass other players if they know how to without without much recourse. This is provided if willingness to invest in the processes.

[JimmyJohns]

I don't see how this is logical at all. Trial accounts are already limited out of expansion areas, and incredibly limited (30 cap, 100k gil, no trading, bazaaring, AH functions, can't sent party invites, can't sent tells unless someone sends one first, can't even be given a linkshell) beyond that. What's the point of a trial account if you can't even play?




Of course, why not just ask SE to consider an IP ban on the player who is harassing you?

To my understanding SE can only IP ban if ordered to do so by a court. But then Showmo can just request a new IP from his ISP.

As far as your opinion on trail accounts, I see no reason why someone should have the ability to request friends IF it's only a 2 week trail. My views are if you're a trail you should be a the bare bones. Considering i have 2 people on my friends list Showmo is using 3rd party software to get my handle to harass me. I double checked and all my filters for people to search me are turned off so according to GM's there are no other ways for Showmo to find me player handle.

[Dragoy]

Teegrins, JimmyJohns!


I'm afraid the Technical Support (and any other official) forum isn't the place for this, and what you describe could possibly play against you instead (violating the forum-guidelines (http://support.eu.square-enix.com/rule.php?id=455&la=2&tag=forum) by being off-topic and/or could possibly be viewed as the harasser becoming the harassé... not to mention posting personal information about them).

I can't say that this is how it will be seen, but it's something I can easily imagine happening. ^^

Referring to the Support Centre (http://support.eu.square-enix.com/contacttop.php?id=455&la=2) (and/or Center (http://support.na.square-enix.com/contacttop.php?id=20&la=1)), for third-party (cheat) software usage reports, there is the Special Task Force unit, and for harassment and such, as I'm sure you know, is the in-game GM service. For suggestions and feedback on something such as how to handle them rule violators or what the free T r i a l account of FINAL FANTASY XI should be capable of, there is the Suggestions and Feedback form. For the latter, perhaps even the General Discussion forum, but not the Technical Support. ^^

(Personally, I think it is already more than heavily limited, and I may even have suggested a permanent free membership status similar to it, but not so heavily restricted... I would, however, probably grant that only to accounts that have been paid for x, y, or z amount of time.)

To my knowledge, the company does absolutely not discuss or otherwise handle matters such as cyber-bullying on a public forum.

As a side-note, I do find it difficult to believe that someone would go to such extents to harass a person, and that the blacklist and other functions wouldn't be enough to be able to ignore them (granted, the extent of it that you describe is quite hefty). Usually people like that get bored more or less quickly when ignored.


But that's me. ^^;

I wish you the best of luck in resolving the matter(s) at hand with the least possible inconvenience!

[JimmyJohns]

Thanks Dragoy for sharing your views. I did not think posting the harassers name was a big deal since as aforementioned, he has moved to a different server. In regards to your blisting, unfortunately when a character logs off/on the player receives a new handle number, then they can resume the obnoxious friend requests. So my blist is filled with the same name with different handle ID's. As far as the harasser getting bored...i think after 3~4 years he has demonstrated that he is highly vindictive and has no plans to stop. I've attempted to discuss this with him as an adult, but sometimes people refuse to grow up.

[Dragoy]

In regards to your blisting, unfortunately when a character logs off/on the player receives a new handle number

Really? I always thought of them being a one thing per account kind of a thing... but yeah, I never really looked into that, so I wouldn't be surprised if it is as you say. Never thought of looking into them numbers after re-logging! That certainly makes it easy to 'sploit the system.

I still can't imagine someone would go for something like that for so long. Perhaps you could just tell them to come for me, so I can experience it, too! Yeah, I'm a little jealous. That's some dedication!